A Quick Look: The Debate Surrounding Ethical Vegetarianism

Defenses of ethical vegetarianism take various forms and can be based in a wide variety of moral theories. In this post, I present three common defenses of ethical vegetarianism and also describe two more contemporary defenses of eating meat.

A Quick Look: The Moral Equality of Combatants in War

Is it morally wrong for soldiers to fight in war? Do both sides in war share the same moral status? In this week’s post, I present some philosophers’ responses to these questions.

A Quick Look: Philosophical Views on Early-Term Fetal Rights

The philosophical debate surrounding abortion often focuses on whether a fetus (or other pre-fetal individuals) is a person. This post explores a few different angles regarding early-term fetal rights and fetal personhood.

A Quick Look: Some Moral Justifications of Legal Punishment

Many people think that legal punishment, the deliberate infliction of harm on convicted individuals, is morally justified. In this week’s post, I present a few ways that philosophers have attempted to justify such punitive practices.

A Quick Look: The Ideal of Liberal Neutrality

How should the state promote conceptions of the good? Should it remain neutral with respect to ‘what is good’ or should it endorse only certain goods? In this week’s post, I briefly outline some considerations for and against each of these positions.

A Quick Look: The Mere Addition Paradox

As the world continues on through the pandemic, the population has also continued to grow. Derek Parfit and other philosophers have questioned whether society is better off if more happiness is produced by increases in population or if it would be better to have smaller populations with increased quality of life. In my newest post, I explore Parfit’s Mere Addition Paradox and how some have responded.

A Quick Look: Consequentialism and the Problem of Alienation

Do our commonsense conceptions of love and friendship undermine the core features of consequentialism? Or can evaluating relationships in terms of consequences allow for genuine love and friendship? Find out what some philosophers have to say in this week’s post.

A Quick Look: Exploring Objective List Theories of Well-being

Whether young or old, many have often wondered what is ultimately good for people. In other words, what theory of well-being appropriately captures what is meant by our claims of the general goodness of someone’s life? In my newest post, I explore objective list theories of well-being, both their criticisms and defenses.

Disambiguating Common Sense: Destruction and Creation

When we make a snowman, does our neighborhood Frosty exist always and forever? Or does he cease to exist once he melts in March? How do philosophers make sense of objects coming into and going out of existence? In this seasonal post I defend one view about time, temporaryism, against an objection from common sense. I leave things open as to which view of time we should prefer given some of our commonsense notions of destruction and creation.

A Quick Look: Defenses and Criticisms of Metaethical Constructivism

In the last post we saw Mackie’s view that moral facts do not exist. Contra Mackie, moral realists hold that there are independent objective moral facts. But if we reject both of these positions, how can we make sense of the existence of moral principles? One solution is that moral principles are something we construct. This week, let’s take a quick look at what some philosophers have to say about metaethical constructivism.